Touchpad stopped working 20.04

Question

I updated ubuntu 18.04 to 20.04. All worked fine for weeks until today. Touchpad on lenovo y580 stopped working just like that. I didn't install any new updates yesterday.

Xinput log:

Virtual core pointer                        id=2    [master pointer  (3)]
↳ Virtual core XTEST pointer                id=4    [slave  pointer  (2)]
↳ PS/2 Synaptics TouchPad                   id=14   [slave  pointer  (2)]

Virtual core keyboard                       id=3    [master keyboard (2)]
↳ Virtual core XTEST keyboard               id=5    [slave  keyboard (3)]
↳ Power Button                              id=6    [slave  keyboard (3)]
↳ Video Bus                                 id=7    [slave  keyboard (3)]
↳ Power Button                              id=8    [slave  keyboard (3)]
↳ Sleep Button                              id=9    [slave  keyboard (3)]
↳ Video Bus                                 id=10   [slave  keyboard (3)]
↳ Lenovo EasyCamera: Lenovo EasyC           id=11   [slave  keyboard (3)]
↳ Ideapad extra buttons                     id=12   [slave  keyboard (3)]
↳ AT Translated Set 2 keyboard              id=13   [slave  keyboard (3)]

Solution 1

This is solution, that has worked for me:

sudo rmmod psmouse
sudo modprobe psmouse proto=imps

or

sudo modprobe -r psmouse && sudo modprobe psmouse proto=imps

To make it permanent, edit:

sudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/options

and add line:

options psmouse proto=imps

NOTE:

This fix will make the touchpad be recognized as a mouse instead, which might remove some features specific to touchpads such as disable while typing.

Hope this helps.

Solution 2

I've been using 20.04 since august and just and at the end of August 2020, suddenly the touchpad/trackpoint stopped working on my Lenovo Thinkpad X1 extreme.

After struggling, getting it partially working, and eventually trying to re-install 20.04 3 or 4 times to fix the issue (initial install was fine), I found that the problem may have been introduced in the kernel 5.4.0-47-generic.

To work around this, I select the older kernel 5.4.0-42-generic at boot time by accessing the GRUB menu and going to Advanced Options.

Now I'm able to use the trackpad/trackpoint as before.

I still have a bit of a display issue with suspend, but at least I can work on my laptop again.

To configure the kernels and defaults to set, this Ask Ubuntu question is a good resource.

UPDATE

I raised a bug with ubuntu, and managed to resolve the issue in my case by changing the Config->Graphics Device value from Discrete Graphics to Hybrid Graphics. With Hybrid Graphics set in BIOS and running the lastest kernal/updates as of 2020-11-6 I'm able to use my trackpad/trackpoint.

Solution 3

You can try reinstalling touchpad driver (synaptics in your case):

sudo apt purge xserver-xorg-input-synaptics
sudo apt autoremove
sudo apt update
sudo apt install xserver-xorg-input-synaptics

Restart and check.

Solution 4

I solved my touchpad problem on Ubuntu 20.04 with this:

1. Edit (create it if doesn't exist) the psmouse.conf file:

   sudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/psmouse.conf
   

2. Add the line:

   options psmouse synaptics_intertouch=1
   

3. Then run:

   sudo modprobe -r psmouse && sudo modprobe psmouse
   

Solution 5

Disabling and enabling the touchpad in Settings somehow solves the problem.

View more solutions

Comments

[int_ua]

Do you have errors in output of dmesg | grep psmouse? Does it work before you log in? Can you check if it works in openbox session?

[Pablo Bianchi]

Seems related to this bug

[scof93]

I did that. After restart on the screen where you choose user i try to move cursor but he weirdly and fast jumps all over the screen and after few moments touchpad stop working. Also in xinput log now "PS/2 Synaptics TouchPad " is not visible.

[Calico Cat]

Issue this command to see if libinput is installed: sudo apt list --installed | grep libinput, if it's not there, you have to install the xserver-xorg-input-libinput package

[scof93]

Among other things I got: libinput-bin/focal,now 1.15.5-1 amd64 [installed], libinput10/focal,now 1.15.5-1 amd64 [installed], xserver-xorg-input-libinput/focal,now 0.29.0-1 amd64 [installed,automatic]

[Calico Cat]

It seems you already have libinput, which is weird because I have had this issue before and installing xserver-xorg-input-synaptics fix the problem. It might also be that your touchpad is disabled (accidentally?). i suggest that you take a look at these wiki: Touchpad not working after login and DebuggingTouchpadDetection. The former provide some simple workarounds, while the latter gives more details and scenarios.

[ZhukovRA]

Looks like reinstalling xserver-xorg-input-libinput works for me on Yoga 13 and Ubuntu 20.04.

[Ahsan Tarique]

sudo modprobe -r psmouse && sudo modprobe psmouse proto=imps worked for me, but I can't seem to make it permanent after restart.

[Ubuntovative is here]

@monkut you can try this to add the command to be executed at startup: stackoverflow.com/a/9683384/12731060

[Ahsan Tarique]

Thanks! I'm debating on doing a full re-install... Suspend seems to be failing as well. Something seems to have gotten messed up on my system.

[Ahsan Tarique]

Hmmm... Just re-installed 20.04 and have the same issue. I guess some update messed up the system. My hw works fine in my windows boot.

[Ahsan Tarique]

Looks like the problem may have been introduced in the kernel, 5.4.0-47-generic. I selected the previous, 5.4.0-42-generic, at grub boot load and the trackpad/trackpoint work fine now.

[Trevor]

That was it @monkut! I think that deserves to be an answer, so that more can see this simple solution instead of the 2h of complex commands I had to live through

[Trevor]

This worked for me, way simpler and fast to test. None of the other commands worked for me, touchpad was not showing in /proc/bus/input/devices list when booting on new linux kernel. I'm also on ubuntu 20.04. Thanks monkut

[Wellington Souza]

That also worked for me, my two cents here is to save the last kernel you have previously run, changing the file /etc/default/grub adding the entries: GRUB_DEFAULT=saved and GRUB_SAVEDEFAULT=true. After that, executing sudo update-grub. Source: askubuntu.com/questions/216398/…

[Herman van Rink]

Could you link the bug you reported to Ubuntu? I'm having a similar issue, but it's not solved with the steps here.

[joshpetit]

This enabled tapping on the touchpad but disabled scrolling haha. Thanks though!

[Ubuntovative is here]

@joshpetit Yes I had already mentioned in my answer.

[joshpetit]

@GopalS wow, how did I miss the fact that you put note in bold. My fault haha!

[Zach Bloomquist]

Hybrid graphics seemed to be the issue for me too on an Extreme Gen1, weird

[wasserholz]

Had the issue also with hybrid graphic. 5.8.0-36-generic kernel version fixed all issues for me.

[jmunsch]

Which touchpad?

[MRule]

This is dangerous if one has already removed xserver-xorg-input-libinput (askubuntu.com/a/783734/89062), as it will render the machine entirely unresponsive to all inputs.

[Mian Muhammad]

It Worked for me.

[Mian Muhammad]

after everytime restarting or logging out, i need to again run sudo modprobe -r psmouse && sudo modprobe psmouse

[Madeo]

this is not working for me

[David]

Strange after that update on all 6 of my machines the update required a restart. So are you saying a second restart fixed it?

[stefano perticoni]

This was my problem showup use case: i was playing normally with ubuntu, then suddenly, for no apparent reason, the touchpad was like inexistent. The "sudo rmmod psmouse sudo modprobe psmouse proto=imps" suggested solution was transforming the touchpad in a mouse ie disablind the multitouch features so I didn't like it. Before trying more solutions I just restarted the system for double check and the problem was gone. My 2 cents

[Gk Mohammad Emon]

Not seeing any settings like that

[Eric Gacoki]

Go to Settings >> Mouse & Touchpad >> Toggle Touchpad to disable or enable. NOTE: You might need a mouse to control the pointer when the touchpad is disabled.

[Admin]

Didn't work for me :(